Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit
is a video game based off the popular anime/manga series Dragon Ball Z, released for the ''Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 consoles. It was announced in Shonen Jump magazine on December 12, 2007, and released in Europe and Japan on June 6, 2008. It was released in the United States on June 10, 2008. The developer for the game is Namco Bandai. Story Mode The game's story mode charts the Z fighters from the beginning of the Saiyan Saga to the end of the Cell Saga, allowing players to take control of the character who won that particular fight - i.e. against Raditz, you take control of Goku, however if Cell were to have won a fight in the TV show, you would take control of Cell. In addition, there are two "what if" storylines, where the player takes control of Bardock and Broly, and what would happen if they were to come to Earth. Gameplay Burst Limit's gameplay is very similar to the Budokai series, - basic kicks, punches and combos are available, along with the "ki blast" button and a direction leading to a more powerful version of that attack, for example a Kamehameha or Destructo Disk. The game makes use of a multiple health bar system, with each character having a maximum (determined in the game options) of six health "blocks" that are worn down until the character reaches zero, when they are knocked out. It also makes use of a "Fatigue meter" - blocking and certain attacks use up fatigue, and when this reaches zero, the character is stunned for a few moments while he or she recovers - and the "Ki meter", which is a gradually regenerating bar that provides power for larger energy attacks, transformations, "powering up" and the game's finishing moves, "ultimate" attacks. The game utilizes in fight cutscenes or "drama scenes" in order to make it as true to the anime as possible - for example, if a character is attacked with an energy beam, in some situations it may switch to a cutscene to depict the character deflecting the energy beam and taking no damage, or another character jumping in the way. These Drama Scenes are activated once the fight reaches certain parameters, for example the player is down to 30% health or has just reached their final form. Any character in the roster can also be picked as a "support" character - support characters are available in every fight, and may be activated in a similar way to drama scenes. A cutscene will begin and the character will be shown deflecting an energy blast, kicking the opponent or standing in the way of an attack in order to defend the player, transferring itself to affect the battle in a number of ways, such as enhanced ki regeneration, damage down or fatigue down. The game then returns to normal gameplay. Characters The game has 21 playable characters available. Several characters have transformations into Super Saiyan or other forms. The following characters (and their transformations) are available in Burst Limit: *Goku - (Base, Kaio-ken, Super Saiyan) *Kid Gohan - (Base, Unlock Potential) *Teen Gohan - (Base, Super Saiyan, Super Saiyan 2) *Piccolo - (Base, Fusion with Nail, Fusion with Kami) *Vegeta - (Base, Super Saiyan, Super Vegeta) *Future Trunks - (Base, Super Saiyan, Super Trunks) *Frieza - (Base, 2nd Form, 3rd Form, Final Form, 100% Final form) *Cell - (Base, Semi-Perfect Form, Perfect Form, Super Perfect Form) *Krillin (Base, Unlock Potential) *Tien *Yamcha *Android 16 *Android 17 *Android 18 *Saibaman *Captain Ginyu *Recoome *Raditz - (Base, Super Saiyan) *Nappa - (Base, Super Saiyan) *Bardock *Broly (Legendary Super Saiyan) Reception and sales Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit received generally positive reviews. IGN gave the game a 7.9/10, commenting that "Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit is a strong fighting game, with combat mechanics that are both simple and deep. There are some issues in terms of variety, however, with a limited number of stages and characters that are fairly similar to one another." GameTrailers gave the game a 8.2/10 and said that "Drama pieces are a nice touch but can sometimes burden the action." and "Burst Limit should no doubt please fans of the show, thanks to a large cast of characters, a fleshed-out story mode, and all the special attacks fireworks you'd expect." Following its initial release, the PS3 port became the top selling game in Japan for a total of three months. Beating out its Xbox 360 counterpart, which came in at twelve, and other games including Mario Kart Wii, which came at four, and Ninja Gaiden II, which came in at eight. Atari reported that the game along with Alone in the Dark]] helped to increase the company's net sales. The game was nominated for a Spike video game award for best fighting game, but lost out to Soul Calibur IV. Along with its sales the game received positive reviews from various gaming critics. Both the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions earned their own aggregated scores of 71/100 and 72/100 on Metacritic, 72.37% and 73.23% on GameRankings, and 7.7 and 7.9 on GameStats respectfully. Chris Roper of IGN felt that the combat mechanics were "simple and deep", but had issues with the extent to which many of the characters and stages were similar to each other. Will Herring of GamePro praised the games visuals and felt that the Drama Pieces integrated well within the Z Chronicles. However, he stated that they didn't seem to work well when applied to the multiplayer mode. Justin Calvert of GameSpot stated the visuals and animation would impress regular gamers, despite referring to the environments as bland. He continued, saying that "the overall look of Burst Limit is definitely greater than the sum of its parts". Phil Theobald of GameSpy felt the lack of content made the game feel a little shallow, but called the game a quality fighting game with an improved game engine that couldn't be denied. GameTrailers praised the game by calling it "a well-rounded package in fighting shape", while keeping its paces with plenty of gaming modes. They also stated that its depth might not please hardcore gamers, but fans or games looking for a user friendly fighter might enjoy it. Dakota Grabowski of GameZone stated that it was an excellent game with some drawbacks, such as lack of characters and an under refined online multiplayer. While overall felt the game was a critical success. Matt Cabral of Official Xbox Magazine praised the controls and the visuals. He also stated "after countless titles spanning various platforms, we may just have the best Dragon Ball Z game yet". However some critics were not as pleased with the game overall. Anthony Gallegos of 1up.com was impressed by the game at first but was ultimately disappointed by its lack of innovation. Dale Nardozzi of TeamXbox called much of the games features bare bones. He also complained about the game's sixty dollar price tag, stating that the gameplay didn't justify the game's cost. He recommended that consumers would be better off getting the game as a trade-in, a rental, or as a loan from a DBZ fan. As of December 2009, the game has sold over 1.23 million units combined worldwide, with 760,000 on the PlayStation 3, and 470,000 on the Xbox 360. http://www.vgchartz.com/games/index.php?name=burst+limit Downloadable content and extras In an interview with Gamespot, Donny Clay announced that no downloadable content is currently planned for either version of the game. Trivia *This game marks the first time in FUNimation history where Goku's family name is officially mentioned outside of Japan. *The internet meme "[[It's Over 9000!|''It's over 9000!!!!!]]" makes an appearance in this game. *Kamehameha, the signature move, appears on commercials on TV when saying it. The clips shown for the advertisement are such as arm wrestling, chef, megaphone, office, etc... *Burst Limit is the first ever Dragon Ball game to be released exclusively on the high definition next-gen consoles. The second now being Raging Blast, which was released this fall. *Burst Limit is one of two Dragon Ball Z games to actually have some form of crude language (not counting the word "hell") with Trunks saying "Damn it" randomly when he loses a fight. The other game is Budokai 3. This is however, only present in the english version of the game - the japanese versions of the games always had crude language. *Many fans consider Burst Limit as a remake of Budokai due to many similarities. They did however, replace Hercule and Great Saiyaman with Broly and Bardock. References External links * American US site * Japanese site * PS3 version * 360 version * Primer trailer * News at jeux-france. * Trailer with the DBZ Shonen Jump Manga * Trailer with the DBZ Shonen Jump Manga; part 2 * Trailer with the DBZ Shonen Jump Manga; part 3 * Trailer with the DBZ Shonen Jump Manga; part 4 * Picasa Photos- Burst Limit Uncut pictures * Gamestop pre-order page (360) * Gamestop pre-order page (PS3) Category:Dragon Ball games Category:Video games where Android 16 is playable Category:Video games where Android 17 is playable Category:Video games where Android 18 is playable Category:Video games where Bardock is playable Category:Video games where Broly is playable Category:Video games where Captain Ginyu is playable Category:Video games where Cell is playable Category:Video games where Frieza is playable Category:Video games where Future Trunks is playable Category:Video games where Gohan is playable Category:Video games where Goku is playable Category:Video games where Krillin is playable Category:Video games where Nappa is playable Category:Video games where Piccolo is playable Category:Video games where Raditz is playable Category:Video games where Recoome is playable Category:Video games where Saibamen are playable Category:Video games where Tien Shinhan is playable Category:Video games where Vegeta is playable Category:Video games where Yamcha is playable